Trolley.



Patented my '13-, I902. P. McCULL-OUG'H.

TROLLEY. gamma 9199 June 24, 1901.

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UNITED STATES- PATENT OFFICE.

PHELAM MOC ULLOUGH, OF TUEBROOK, LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND.

TROLLEY.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 699,921 dated May 13, 1902.

Application filed June 24, 1901. Serial No. 66,831. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, PHELAM MCCULLOUGH,

' a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Tuebrook, Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster, England, have invented certain new and usefullniprovements in Trolleys, of which the following isa specification.

This invention relates to trolleys for overhead wires for electric traction, and has for its object certain improvements, which will now be described.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of my trolley-head applied to an insulated pole; Fig. 2, a plan thereof; Fig. 3, an end view.

In trolley-heads now in use the conducting-wire which conveys the current from the overhead wire to the motor is often directly attached to the trolley-head, so that they can not separate. The result is thatin the event of the trolley-wheel accidentally leaving the wire when the car is in motion and becoming entangled with the insulators,- span-wires, or their supports the trolley-head cannot separate from the wire, and consequently the trolley-head is boundto drag the wire bodily. out of the trolley-pole or break it asunder, and thus formaprolific source of annoyance, as well as danger to the lives of passengers. Now by my invention I avoid this defect by an arrangement which enables the trolleyheadto separate from the pole without injury to the conducting-wire when an exceptional pull is applied, such as is-the case when the trolley-head gets entangled in the manner above mentioned. To efiect this, the. conducting wire or cable a is passed through the pole b, as usual; but that part of the pole on which the head 0 is attached is provided with an outer tube 01 of insulating'material, and around this, again, ametallic contact-sleeve e is placed, through which the screwed end f of the conducting wire or cable 'aprojects and is fastened by means ofa nut g on the outside, which binds and fixes the sleeve 6 on the trolley-pole b, so that itcannot come on. This metallic contact-sleeve 6 makes electrical contact between the conducting-wire a and the trolley-head c. It is by preference split longitudinally, so that it can be more easily forced onto the tube of insulating material, and at the end is countersunk or recessed at h to receive the aforesaid nut g, so as to enable the latter to lie flush with or below the end of the sleeve e. The pole b, with its contact-sleeve 6 attached, has then the socket of the trolley-head cfitted onto it by the clenching bolt and nut k, which tightens the socket 0 around the contact-sleeve c with sufficient grip to prevent them separating under ordinary conditions. If, how- .ever,-the trolley-wheel Z becomes entangled,

the result will be that the trolley-head c is forcibly dragged ofi from the sleeve 6 and the trolleypole I), thus breaking contact, but leaving the wires absolutely intact for the trolleyhead c or a new one to be refitted, and no injury is done to the conducting-wire (1. Whatever. A piece of tubular insulation m can, if desired, be fitted to the extreme end of the poleb inside. This surrounds the conducting-wire a and forms aninsulation between the end of' the trolley-pole b and the metallic contact-sleeve e by'means of which, together with the insulating material d, surrounding the pole, the insulation of the pole itself is made perfect. The head a is made with a recess or channel s at the end, and the pole b has a collar 6 formed on the outside, which constitutes an abutment at end of the head 0. The partuof the collar t en,- ters the recess 3 and acts as afeather to prevent the head .0 from turning on the pole.

Consequently the clenching-nuts need not be screwed up as tight as they would have to be if the grip of the socket Wererelied on to often experienced considerable difiiculty in resetting it, especially if the trolley-wheel happens to be swiveled around so as to lie out of line with the overhead wire. Now this defeet I overcome by providinga spring,which is so applied that it will retain the trolleywheel in exact alinement with the pole b or at any determined angle therewith, according to whether the wire be fixed immediately overhead or at the side. The trolley-wheel can thus be more easily reset against the wire, as if the trolley-wheel gets out of alinement with the wire it will at once fly back by the action of the spring into the position or alinement req uired, The wheel can, however, be reset against the overhead wire in cases where the pole happens to lie at an angle of as much as forty-five degrees with the overhead wire, as the sloping sides of the V-groove in the trolleywheel, combined with the highly-resilient nature of the spring, admits of the wheel readily accommodating itself to the position it is required for the time being to take up. The spring is applied in the following manner: I provide a fork 0 of suitable length, in which the rotary trolley-wheel Z is mounted and preferably so arranged that when the pole is at an angle of twenty degrees or twenty-five degrees the fork shall be horizontal. This fork is arranged in the rear of the socket c and is hinged or pivoted atp to the socket of the trolley-head 0, so that it can freely turn laterally to right or left, and thus allow a considerable amount of play. The axis on which the trolley revolves is thus considerably in' the rear of the hinge p. Insertions z of graphite can be provided in the opposing faces of the hinge to secure efiicient lubrication. A small arm or lever q is secured to the hingingspindle p, to which is attached the spring, such as n, and the other end of this spring is fixed, but is provided with an adjustment 7", so as to vary the tension of the spring or as required. This spring at, therefore,will retain the trolley-wheel Zin exact alinement with the pole b or at any angle determined upon, ac cording to whether the wire be fixed immediately overhead or at the side. I wish it to be understood, however, that any suitable form of spring may be used. This arrangement secures also that the trolley can give laterally to any inequalities in the overhead wire, but yet resume its normal alinement when the inequalities have been passed, thus reducing considerably the risk of the trolley leaving the wire. Another object of using this arrangement of spring-controlled trolley-head besides that of bringing the trolley back in line with the pole is to enable the trolley to follow the direction in which the car proceeds, which is an important advantage at facing points.

Now when a car has passed over the points the tendency is to pull my trolley-Wheel Z after it in the same direction as it is itself traveling. Thus if it branches off to the left hand it will at once pull the trolley against the left-hand flange of the switch ,which flange prevents it coming off sidewise and at the same time guides the trolley-wheel to the overhead wire corresponding to the line on which the car is running. This effect is largely facilitated by the play which is allowed. to the trolley-wheel fork, as described, and also to the action of the spring at, which tends to pull the trolley-wheel I back into alinement after the junction is passed.

V is a rope coupled to the trolley-head at M, which after passing through the eye w is knotted at y and then passes down to within easy reach of the conductor in charge of the ear. Should, therefore, the trolley-head be forcibly dragged off the pole, it will not fall to the ground, but will hang by the rope, which prevents it falling more than a limited distance by the knot 1 engaging in the eye 00.

I declare that what I claim is- 1. A trolley-head having a fork in which the trolley is mounted, the said head being removably secured on the end of a trolleypole, means for securing the end of a conducting-wire at the end of the trolley-pole, means for insulating the trolley-head from the said trolley-pole, and a contact-plate carried by the trolley-head for engaging the means employed for securing the end of the conducting-wire in the trolley-pole, substantially as described.

2'. In a trolley-head, the combination with a pole having a conducting-wire passing through the same, means for insulating the end of the wire from the end of the pole, the said trolley-head having a socket for fitting around the end of the pole, and means for insulating said socket from said pole, a contact-piece secured upon the end of the pole to the conductingwire, and a contact-sleeve in the said socket for engaging the same, substantially as described.

3. In a trolley-head, the arrangement for enabling the trolley-head to separate from the pole without injury to the conducting-wire when an exceptional pull is applied, namely passing the conducting-wire through the pole and at the end fastening it to an outer metallic contact-sleeve insulated or not as required from the pole but in electrical contact with the trolley-head, and making a split in the trolley-head whereby it can be compressed around the trolley-pole, substantially as described.

4. A trolley-head having a longitudinal split therein, lugs with a clenching-bolt for compressing the socket around the trolley-pole, a recess or channel at the end of the socket, in combination with a corresponding feather or projection on the pole which enters the channel and prevents the head from turning when socketed on the pole, substantially as described.

5. In a trolley, the combination with the trolley-pole of an outer metallic contact-sleeve insulated therefrom to which the wire is secured, and a socket on the trolley -head olenched around said sleeve with sufficient grip to prevent them separating under ordinary conditions, substantially as described.

6. In a trolley, the combination with a trolley-pole and a socket securedto the free end thereof, of a trolley-head having a depending spindle arranged at right angles to said socket and engaging a bearing in the end thereof, the said spindle projecting beyond said bear ing, an arm secured to the end of said spindle, and a spring connecting'the arm'with said socket for the spring exerting a straight pull on said arm holding'the trolley-head-in proper alinement therewith, under yielding pressure, substantially as described.

7. In a trolley, the combination with a trolley-pole of a trolley-head formedwith a socket adapted to fit upon theend of the pole, clamping means on said head for'gripping the end said'forkbeing hinged to the rear of the said socket, a spindle attached-to the'said fork, an

arm carried by the said spindle, and a spring connecting the arm with the projection on -the-trolley-head, so that the fork-is normally.

held in alinement with the trolley-wire'under yielding pressure, the spring andmeans for holding the said forkin pos'itionremaining with the trolley-head whenever'the sameis separated from the pole, substantially as de scribed.

In witness whereof I-have hereunto signed my name, this 15th day'of J nne, 1901, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

PHELAM MCCULLOUGHJ Witnesses:

G." O. D YMOND, SIDNEY W. D01). 

